In final weeks,Jobs managed his farewells

The calls trickled in at first. Just a few,then dozens,and in recent weeks,a nearly endless stream of people who wanted a few moments to say goodbye,according to people close to Jobs. Most were intercepted by his wife,Laurene. She would apologetically explain that he was too tired to receive many visitors. In his final weeks,he became so weak that it was hard for him to walk up the stairs of his own home anymore,she confided to one caller.

Some asked if they might try again tomorrow.

Sorry,she replied. He had only so much energy for farewells. The man who valued his privacy almost as much as his ability to leave his mark on the world had decided whom he most needed to see before he left.

Jobs spent his final weeks as he had spent most of his life in tight control of his choices. He invited a close friend,the physician Dean Ornish,a preventive health advocate,to join him for sushi at one of his favourite restaurants,Jin Sho in Palo Alto. He said goodbye to longtime colleagues including the venture capitalist John Doerr,the Apple board member Bill Campbell and the Disney chief executive Robert A. Iger. He offered Apples executives advice on unveiling the iPhone 4S,which occurred on Tuesday. He spoke to his biographer,Walter Isaacson. He started a new drug regime,and told some friends that there was reason for hope.

But,mostly,he spent time with his wife and children – who will now oversee a fortune of at least $6.5 billion,and,in addition to their grief,take on responsibility for tending to the legacy of someone who was as much a symbol as a man.

Steve made choices, Dr. Ornish said. I once asked him if he was glad that he had kids,and he said,’Its 10,000 times better than anything Ive ever done.

But for Steve,it was all about living life on his own terms and not wasting a moment with things he didnt think were important. He was aware that his time on earth was limited. He wanted control of what he did with the choices that were left.

In his final months,Jobss home – a large and comfortable but relatively modest brick house in a residential neighborhood – was surrounded by security guards. His driveways gate was flanked by two black SUVs.

Everyone always wanted a piece of Steve, said one acquaintance who,in Jobss final weeks,was rebuffed when he sought an opportunity to say goodbye. He created all these layers to protect himself from the fan boys and other peoples expectations and the distractions that have destroyed so many other companies.

But once youre gone,you belong to the world.

Jobss biographer,Isaacson,whose book will be published in two weeks,asked him why so private a man had consented to the questions of someone writing a book. I wanted my kids to know me, Jobs replied,Isaacson wrote Thursday in an essay on Time.com. I wasnt always there for them,and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.

Now that Jobs is gone,many people expect that attention will focus on his wife,Laurene Powell Jobs,who has largely avoided the spotlight,but is expected to oversee Jobss fortune. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Stanford Graduate School of Business,Powell Jobs worked in investment banking before founding a natural foods company. She then founded College Track,a programme that pairs disadvantaged students with mentors who help them earn college degrees.

Steves concerns these last few weeks were for people who depended on him: the people who worked for him at Apple and his four children and his wife, said Mona Simpson,Jobss sister. His tone was tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us.

As news of the seriousness of his illness became more widely known,Jobs was asked to attend farewell dinners and to accept various awards.

He turned down the offers. On the days that he was well enough to go to Apples offices,all he wanted afterward was to return home and have dinner with his family. When one acquaintance became too insistent on trying to send a gift to thank Jobs for his friendship,he was asked to stop calling. Jobs had other things to do before time ran out.

He was very human, Dr. Ornish said. He was so much more of a real person than most people know. Thats what made him so great.

(Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman,Quentin Hardy,Claire Cain Miller and Evelyn M. RusliThe New York Times.)